It helps a lot.
https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2017/08/21/data-provide-insights-advantages-and-qualifications-legacy-applicants

The Naviance database had data on 15,402 legacy applications from the high school classes of 2014-17 in its database, considering only the 64 colleges with 100 or more legacy applicants each during that time period, so that small numbers of legacy applicants would not skew results.

The results show that reports of much higher admit rates for legacies are accurate. The average acceptance rate across these institutions was 31 percentage points higher for legacy applicants than the colleges' published acceptance rate for all students. The acceptance rate for legacy applicants was above average for 52 institutions and lower than average at 12 institutions.

Anonymous wrote:White privilege.

Puleeze. You want to know when applicants really rock their way into HYP? When they are legacy AND URM. Assuming that they are good (but not necessarily great) students, they can practically phone the application in.

First, applicants’ academic credentials are grouped within a range and rated rather than rank-ordered. So distinctions aren’t typically made between 1550 and 1600 SAT score or GPA of 3.85 vs 4.0. Secondly, because the first evaluation is of the applicant in the context of his other whole class, the all else being equal comparison happens pretty frequently in some schools.

Harvard routinely turns down kids with perfect grades and scores and routinely takes kids with high but less than perfect grades and scores. Legacy matters and it’s different from development (aka big donors, who may or may not have kids who qualify as legacy).

In a situation (e.g. an elite private HS, a well-regarded public magnet) where lots of applicants have great academics and respectable but hardly world-class ECs, legacy is one attribute that makes an applicant standout from a pack of others who look pretty damn similar.

20:37 misunderstands the process in two ways. First,
Secondly, because the first evaluation is the applicant in the context of his or her own class, the all things

White privilege.

I know 3 Harvard legacies who have applied. All were wait listed or rejected. They were not big donors.

Only 30% of the legacies get in, to begin with, and they all have the requisite scores and GPAs. Legacies count at Harvard only when you hit 7 digits.

Anonymous wrote:If I’m an HYP alum (and a legacy myself, so DC would be 3rd generation), but not a big donor, how much does that help admission chances? DC is on a path to have excellent grades/scores and some good ECs, but nothing like the national level achievements that seem to be needed for most to get in.

It helps but obviously it won't be what moves the needle all the way. If your child is already very competitive, legacy will move the needle a little bit. You do not need national-level awards to get into HYPS. Most admits do not have that. There are very few students with big-time national awards that actually mean something (i.e. ISEF, siemens , Regeneron STS, some very prestigious literary competition etc). Nowhere near enough to fill the entire class at HYPS.

Practically no influence at all in your case.

If your kid and another kid with exactly the same degree of appeal were being considered for the same spot, except that your child is a legacy and not the other student, then it would come into play.

Sadly, there will not be such a comparison. HYP will take a student with better grades and leadership skills over your child with legacy. HYP will take a student with better grades and a donation in the ***millions*** (ex: your name on a building). HYP will take a star athlete. HYP will take a student with better grades and coming from Po Dunk, Nowhere. And there are ALWAYS students with perfect grades, perfect test scores, national competition winners, etc.

It probably increases your admission chances from low teens for well qualified applicants to around 30% to 35% which is no joke, but it doesn't guarantee admission and will matter less and less as these schools with fat endowments bow to social pressure and abandon or cut back on legacy preferences.

Or accomplished athlete with excellent grades and test scores.

Not much, unless $$$$$$$ donated

That said, 2/3 of the legacy applicants don’t get admitted.

Makes a big difference, especially in a HS where other applicants have similar credentials but not legacy.

If I’m an HYP alum (and a legacy myself, so DC would be 3rd generation), but not a big donor, how much does that help admission chances? DC is on a path to have excellent grades/scores and some good ECs, but nothing like the national level achievements that seem to be needed for most to get in.